The thrash renaissance of the 21st century was a relatively big scene. Elder statesmen such as Kreator found themselves reinvigorated, defunct acts like Death Angel came back from the dead and countless new bands emerged. As with any popular movement however, the scene becomes oversaturated with a sea of inferior imitators and generic hopefuls. Excöriator is unfortunately a victim of such a phenomenon, with their debut album Faster Harder Louder a serviceable effort that is likely to be forgotten not long after its conclusion.
In a sense, there isn’t much wrong with the EP. The riffs are a suitable mixture of the fast and mid paced variety, muscular bass lines following closely in sync over pounding drum tracks. It just feels so by the numbers that it’s hard to really be gripped by anything here. Take “Life as Such” for example. The riffs thrash along nicely, with an atonal solo that bears resemblance to Slayer/early Kreator before morphing into a pattern that could have come from the fretboard of Andreas Kisser. Decent, but we’ve heard it all before. Had this been dropped in 1985 then it could possibly have made waves, but over 30 years later it’s just retreading a well worn path. It comes off as a Sepultura knock off, with everything from the riff structure to the vocal patterns a nod to the Brazilian giants. Even the vocals themselves sound like a neutered Max Cavalera, lacking the grit and bellow to mirror the conviction the music provides. Sadly this is the case for most of the material, although there are some good melodic motifs in “Pre-Incarnation” and the band’s eponymous track, the latter feeling like a more accessible take on a Sepultura guitar line.
The mix is also a bit hit and miss as well. The guitars are heavy and have a satisfying crunch in the mid paced gallops, with a strong bass presence throughout (think Pleasure to Kill levels of prominence). Unfortunately, the drums don’t fare as well. The bass drums are almost completely buried in the mix, with the kick patterns difficult to make out at times. The hi hats also fuzz and distort on occasion, the lack of clarity doing the recording no favours.
As negative as this review may have sounded, Faster Harder Louder is not a poor album. It is a passable effort that sadly does very little to stand out from the crowd of countless other thrash acts. All but the most devoted of thrash fans would do well to look elsewhere for their fix of this genre.
Rating: 2.5/5
Standouts: “Disembodied”, “Pre-Incarnation”
Band links: Facebook, Bandcamp
